Stone Island Archivio ‘982-‘012 30th Anniversary Book

Published as a companion book to the recent Stone Island 30 exhibition held in Florence, Archivio is a magnificent pictorial history of the brand’s first 30 years. Billed as ‘A Photographed Edit of the Stone Island Archive’, the book is a superb collection of pieces drawn from the Archive and features over 300 full colour shots, each accompanied by description text in 3 languages (Italian, English and French) covering fabric composition – effectively a giant historical ‘Look Book’.

The book also features a foreword by Carlo Rivetti, Creative Designer of Stone Island, plus an essay on ‘Thirty Years of Stone Island and the Challenge Facing New Italian-Style Business’ written by Italian sociologist and journalist, Francesco Morace. A full index of the 307 pieces featured, many of which were not on display at the Stazione Leopalda anniversary show, concludes the work.

Book conception was the brainchild of Simon Foxton and Nick Griffiths, the British creative duo who were behind the Florence exhibition, the latter also responsible for the photography in the book. They have done a wonderful job. It is a lavish, high quality production – the book has 654 12.5” x 9.5” pages and is hardbound with a PVC dust cover featuring the famous Stone Island compass badge. Weighing in at a not inconsiderable 6kg, it also has its own cardboard carry case.

Published by Italian firm, SilvanaEditoriale, Archivio features a dramatic mix of the innovative, most iconic, weird and just plain beautiful pieces from across three decades. It was on sale for €120 at the Florence event, and came with a commemorative t-shirt and exhibition poster.

Given there are very few literary works devoted to the brand’s history, for any Stone Island enthusiast this is a must-have volume. Although the likes of Amazon and Waterstone’s are currently taking pre-orders, it is currently unclear whether this book will be generally available through booksellers in the UK or was just a limited print produced as a catalogue for the recent exhibition. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy would be well-advised to contact their local stockist or the flagship store in Brewer Street, London for the latest information.

If you do get a chance to obtain a copy, don’t hesitate – you won’t be disappointed.